The Prince of Terror is one of the more obscure films in the filmography of Italian director Lamberto Bava. During the decade of the 80's he made all the films that made his name, several of which are among the best of Italian horror from this period. But he also made a series of far less well known genre films that were made for television. Of the ones of this type that I have seen, I reckon that this one is the best. The story revolves around a famous horror director known as the 'Prince of Terror' who is subjected to a house invasion one night in which he and his family are terrorised by an unhinged screenwriter who was recently fired by our friend, the director.
What makes this one work well is that it is wilfully ridiculous at regular intervals, while it is also pretty violent for a TV movie. Even with his bigger budgeted feature films, Bava was a director who never shied away from excess and nonsense, so it's perhaps no surprise that The Prince of Terror has these two aspects in abundance. Perhaps its best scene is also its most ridiculous; it involves a security guard who makes a personal check on the director's house on the fateful night only to suddenly and shockingly start to bloodily combust, with his ribcage bursting out of his chest and blood flowing from his head. All the while he appears disturbingly blasé about this. It turns out he is a specially designed robot! Its moments like this which makes this film memorable. Similarly, the finale crescendos in a scene of epic stupidity that is so heroically ludicrous you just have to applaud the film-makers for putting it on screen. It involves the final downfall of the house invaders, who up to this point have been vicious criminals not to be messed around with under any circumstances. How are they defeated? Our hero starts hitting golf balls at them from the vantage point of his living room of course. An unusual form of crazy golf if you will. One of the villains even loses an eyeball as a result of one particularly expertly delivered wedge shot, driven slap bang into the middle of his coupon. If you think all of this is insanity, there's a twist ending that follows this that takes things in yet another bizarre direction.
This one benefits from a spirited performance from David Brandon who appeared in Michele Soavi's impressive debut film Stagefright the previous year. He plays the screenwriter with the chip on his shoulder and seems to be having some fun in doing so. There's also an enjoyable synth score from Simon Boswell, who contributed to the likes of Dario Argento's Phenomena (1985). And we also have some impressive effects work from Sergio Stivaletti who worked on a bunch of Italian horror flicks including Bava's own cult classic 'Demons' movies. Aside from the robot security guard, there's a skinned doggy and the crazed finale for him to sink his teeth into. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyably silly horror flick from Bava and one which certainly deserves to be far better known.
What makes this one work well is that it is wilfully ridiculous at regular intervals, while it is also pretty violent for a TV movie. Even with his bigger budgeted feature films, Bava was a director who never shied away from excess and nonsense, so it's perhaps no surprise that The Prince of Terror has these two aspects in abundance. Perhaps its best scene is also its most ridiculous; it involves a security guard who makes a personal check on the director's house on the fateful night only to suddenly and shockingly start to bloodily combust, with his ribcage bursting out of his chest and blood flowing from his head. All the while he appears disturbingly blasé about this. It turns out he is a specially designed robot! Its moments like this which makes this film memorable. Similarly, the finale crescendos in a scene of epic stupidity that is so heroically ludicrous you just have to applaud the film-makers for putting it on screen. It involves the final downfall of the house invaders, who up to this point have been vicious criminals not to be messed around with under any circumstances. How are they defeated? Our hero starts hitting golf balls at them from the vantage point of his living room of course. An unusual form of crazy golf if you will. One of the villains even loses an eyeball as a result of one particularly expertly delivered wedge shot, driven slap bang into the middle of his coupon. If you think all of this is insanity, there's a twist ending that follows this that takes things in yet another bizarre direction.
This one benefits from a spirited performance from David Brandon who appeared in Michele Soavi's impressive debut film Stagefright the previous year. He plays the screenwriter with the chip on his shoulder and seems to be having some fun in doing so. There's also an enjoyable synth score from Simon Boswell, who contributed to the likes of Dario Argento's Phenomena (1985). And we also have some impressive effects work from Sergio Stivaletti who worked on a bunch of Italian horror flicks including Bava's own cult classic 'Demons' movies. Aside from the robot security guard, there's a skinned doggy and the crazed finale for him to sink his teeth into. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyably silly horror flick from Bava and one which certainly deserves to be far better known.
